The latest Council policy in Merthyr Tudful is to divide the town into Quarters. What they haven't planned, however, is a Rebel Quarter. This is due to be inaugurated next Thursday, April 26th, with a gathering of republican protesters demanding a real democracy for Cymru, as we are prepare for visiting foreign monarch Mrs E. Windsor. Gwrthdystiad Gweriniaethol , Merthyr Rising 2012, will begin at 11.30 am outside the plaque to working-class martyr Dic Penderyn, at the town library. Speakers will include Plaid Cymru A.M. Bethan Jenkins, Bethan Williams of Cymdeithas yr Iaith and Tim Richards (former stalwart of both the Welsh Socialist Republicans and Cymru Goch). I have no issue with the royals as individuals. For all I know, Mrs Windsor could be a lovely old lady who does not invite bloody dictators like King Hamad of Bahrain to her Diamond Jubilee celebrations, her husband not a xenophobe, Carlo and William certainly not animal-shooting aristocrats, Harry never a racist who once called a friend a 'Paki' and Andrew definitely not a trade ambassador with perverts and dubious dictators as friends and allies. Of course, the images of the monarchy has been cleverly reconstructed following all these perceptions, as a recent article in the Guardian's G2 illustrated clearly. I look forward to Welsh language poet and novelist Grahame Davies reinventing Carlo in his forthcoming role as press officer for him. Can we expect even Charles to emerge from this change as a hip green warrior embracing the wind-farms he once described with such horror? Certainly, he'll need to avoid claims of hypocrisy, as the 'royal family' will receive up to £40 million from the sale of the ocean beds owned by the Crown Estate to windfarm companies. I don't expect the gwerin to rise up and overthrow Mrs Windsor when she comes to Cyfarthfa Castle and Aberfan this week. I do expect to see lots of schoolchildren provided with Union flags to wave, in a staged show of support much like the demonstrations of grief for N.Korean dictator Kim Jong II when he died. In face, whenever the opulent palaces of some autocrat like Gadaffi or Sadam Hussein are shown with such disgust on the media, I am merely reminded of the luxury our monarchy live in, with their numerous palatial residences and servants to do their bidding ( including lickspittle poets and writers). Our taxes, through the £7.9 million Civil List, paying for them. The arguments against the monarchy are manifold , but one of the most impoirtant is they act as a unifying force for a Britain which cannot deliver meaningful prosperity and equality to the Welsh people and , indeed, to working-class people throughout these islands. The more people identify with them, the less they identify with their class and culture. It is the Orange Order theory writ large. In other words, divide and rule in order to subjugate. I am heartened to learn from a friend who has been to N. Irelnad more recently than me that even in a Loyalist town like Bushmills the red-white-and-blue of the pavingstones is fading fast and there are actually street names in Gaelic! Perhaps with a degree of independence and power-sharing, even those Loyalists who had fanatical allegiance to the monarchy have begun to change. In Cymru, we have been fixated too long on the British nation-state, born out of capitalism and now dying with it. The benefits which come from the monarchy are equal to those which come from being part of Britain. Both make us one of the poorest areas in the whole of Europe! Those who are better off might say - 'What have we to gain from being a republic?' I would reply - 'What have we got to lose?' Our jobs? Our homes? Our futures? These are already being threatened or lost. Yet, with the election of Leanne Wood as leader of Plaid Cymru, I believe there's a new spirit afoot. We can envisage a very different Cymru: one where we are equal citizens and not subjects who are expected to look up to a family whose position is due entirely to an accident of birth. We can envisage a Cymru with an elected President who would represent us, yet wield no power; much like Ireland, but not necessarily coming from the professional classes. It could be anyone who has contributed greatly to the people of Wales. Even a writer.........you never know! To those who say we live in a democracy, I would answer - 'No, we do not!' How can we, when a family lives in such wealth and with such status ? The people of Wales, not the Crown Estate, should own all land underground and the ocean bed. If there are moves, however tentative, to abolish the House of Lords because of an archaic system of hereditary and nepotistic privilege, then why not the monarchy? Surely, the same principles apply. And so........back to Merthyr this week, where a band of dedicated Welsh republicans will gather to say we do not welcome Mrs Windsor to this town where, in the Rising of 1831, 20 people were killed by the forces of the Crown and Dic Penderyn was taken to Cardiff and hanged, with many others transported to Australia.

THE 5 QUARTERS OF MERTHYR

First the Cafe Quarter appeared on signsand visitor maps around townuntil, with the opening of an OrientalEat-As-Much-As-You-Can-Till-The-Ambulance-Comes,it finally became real.

Controversially, the Learning Quarter,once called Merthyr Collegetaken over by the University of Glamrockwith new buildings sprouting like dandelions(cynics would say - 'Teach 'em to fill in forms!').

What after? The Culture Quarter?With Theatr Soar and the Canolfan,the Old Town Hall resurrected at last;street theatre every weekendoutside takeaways, recreating Old China.

There must be the Retail Quarterout of town by necessity,away from empty, charity, pound, mobile,card shops and pawnbrokers;go window-shopping for roller-blinds!

And the fifth one, the Rebel Quarter,across from the Dic, by the plaqueto the martyr, making us morethan a sum of our parts, a placeyou can't count on to conform.